27.9.2010

I saw some flower sprays in Youtube several ladies had ordered from Anna. They were so beautiful that I wanted to give them a try myself. I used Tim Holz Alterations Tattered Florals die, Canson Mi Teintes cardstock and Victorian Velvet Distress Ink to create the flowers. I handcutted the branches and leaves and formed them with a big crochet hook. Smaller flowers are punched with X-cut flower punch and centered with maroon half pearls. I used Glossy Accent to glue the whole thing together.

I used Dustin Pikes digi stamps for pictures and the Halloween -text and colored them with ProMarkers. I added some Glossy Accent on spiders web, balloon and O-pumpkin. Balloon is raised from backround with 3d-stickers and attached to ghosts hand with a piece of string. I used Fiskars embossing plate to create web-texture for the black piece of cardstock. Finished with some faux stiching.

25.9.2010

Title says it all, I'm in love. I visited my husband while he had to be a few days in Jyväskylä because of his job and found a craft shop, Askartelupuoti Pia. I didn't shop much as my bank account was telling me not to but at least now I know they have Cornish Heritage Farm stamps , X-cut punches and a few other things no one sells in my town.

The thing I bought and fell in love with is actually sold also in Paprus but I've never seen it in use before so I've been able to resist it. What is it? Nellie Snellen flower punch series Jumbo Leaf. I have quite many flower dies and punches but only one set of swirls and one set of leaves and the leaves I have aren't even that leafy.

This leaf punch actually has two parts, first one cuts out the leaf and the other one embosses it. And by embossing I don't mean it draws a few lines to it. It actually creates quite a deep 3D -effect.

You're going to see lot of them in the future but here's my first try. This card was made for Koukussa Kortteihin -groups first fantasy challenge. Topic was moonlight.

I didn't find a suitable stamp (if anyone knows places to get nice fantasy stamps, please wink!) so I ented up drawing some kind of a witch. I colored it using ProMarkers and Sakura glitter gel pens. Paper behind it is from DCWV's Once Upon A Time -stack. I distressed the edges a bit and added some black ink on them. Flower is made using Tim Holz Alterations Tattered Florals -die and colored with Distress ink in Dusty Concord, black Aladine ink and purple Perfect Pearls. I also added Perfect Pearls on black cardstock for the card blank.

Some purple sequin trim, a few tear shaped blings, a piece of dotted cardstock punched with X-cut edge punch , and tadaa, first leaves made with the new punch. Aren't they pretty?

20.9.2010

A few other crafting ladies have put up christmas calendars either for themselves or their children/godchildren. I already took part on Liisas and Riikkas calendars and decided to put up one of my own. Or actually two, one for myself and one for my godson. If you want to take part on one or few windows with some small surprises, please leave a comment below which windows you reserve and then e-mail (sekakayttoa {at} luukku {dot} com) me so I'll send my snail mail address. Don't forget to wink if you have a calendar of your own!

I'd appreciate if I got the parcels before November 25th, especially those addressed to Jere. Mark the envelope with the number of the window.

16.9.2010

Wedding and honeymoon and all that are finally done and I have to return to boring every day life as Mrs. Hotti. That means cards.

First thing I did with stamps I bought from London was my very first ATC-card. The topic in Inspiraation lähteillä -challenge was travelling which couldn't have suited better. I used a page from old map book, Sakura glitter gel pens, Tower Bridge -stamp by Crafty Individuals and a paperclip.

The whole London set contained four square stamps and a text. I also bought a small set by Paper Artsy and a large Blade Rubber sheet.

Blade Rubber Stamps was actually the only craft store I could find from London and also the only one that advertised in cardmaking magazines. I was trying to ask them if there were any others but apparently the rents are high and online competition is tough.

I used the Blade Rubber set to create a card for P*skarteluhaaste. This weeks challenge was to use hues from one color. I hope offwhite still counts as browns hue. Isn't it clearly a brown that just happens to have quite a lot of white in it?

1. You may use my digi stamps in your art as long as they're hand colored.2. You can resize, twist and mirror them.3. You may sell the cards you've created.4. If you publish an image of your creation in your blog or some photostream I'd love to see it so share the link with me!